Episodes
| Episode | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20090108 | Jonathan Miller explores the complex questions that arise from trying to define death. He asks what it means for something to be alive so that it can die, what counts as death for different species and, if we pass a genetic inheritance on to our children, does this mean that we are in some sense immortal? Jonathan also considers the consequences of there being no actual definition of death in UK law for medicine and ethics and why even if we avoid all risks to life we will all eventually die. |
| 02 | 20090115 | Jonathan Miller explores the complex questions that arise from trying to define death. He explores some of the difficult questions about exactly when the transition from life to death occurs. Are we dead when our hearts stops or when our brain has died, and what does brain death mean? Jonathan considers how medical technology has changed the process of dying and how controversies around defining death based on the heart or the brain have had an impact on organ donation and transplantion. How controversies around defining death have impacted on organ donation. |